Tupaiidae

Tupaiidae is one of two families of treeshrews, the other family being Ptilocercidae. The family contains three living genera and 19 living species. The family name derives from tupai, the Malay word for treeshrew and also for squirrel which tupaiids superficially resemble. The former genus Urogale was disbanded in 2011 when the Mindanao treeshrew was moved to Tupaia based on a molecular phylogeny.

Tupaiidae

W. Djatmiko · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
tree shrewPBDB
Sits inside
ScandentiaPBDB
Diet
insectivore, frugivorePBDB
Life habit
scansorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 27 million years on record.

The record covers at least 27.3 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 0 of 19 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 19 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 14 of 19 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 19 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 19 occurrences38–37 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 1 occurrence10–9.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.0–7.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences7.7–6.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.4–5.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.1–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–2.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.6–1.3 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.3–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence27.3 Mya129 ka38.5 Mya0 Mya

19 occurrences of Tupaiidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

19 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

6 formations

Xiaohe — 25.72°N, 101.87°EDhokpathan — 31.53°N, 76.63°EChitarwata — 30.08°N, 70.33°EHetaoyuan — 33.25°N, 111.45°ETatrot — 30.80°N, 76.92°EVihowa — 30.08°N, 70.33°E

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The named rock units Tupaiidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tupaiidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Tupaiidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

314 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Tupaiidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

11 references

Each of the 19 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Tupaiidae

Credit
W. Djatmiko
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tupaiidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itScandentia through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1825